Wikipedia:Recent additions 150

Did you know...

 * ...that the submarine HMS Storm (pictured) was the first to be commanded by a British Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve officer?
 * ...that the discovery of Icadyptes salasi, a prehistoric five-foot-tall penguin in Peru, has caused scientists to reconsider the timeline of penguin evolution?
 * ...that outlaws John Dillinger, Machine Gun Kelly, and Baby Face Nelson were tried in the historic Landmark Center in St. Paul?
 * ...that money donated in 1905 by the fans at Celtic Park football stadium in Glasgow, Scotland was given to the mother of international Scottish footballer Barney Battles, Jr. while Battles was still in the womb?
 * ...that the newly-merged Franco-Dutch firm Unibail-Rodamco is the largest public real estate company in Europe?
 * ...that a portion of the Palatine Library returned to Heidelberg in 1816, almost two centuries after it was looted from city by the Catholic League?
 * ...that the rotation of a star slows down as it grows older?
 * ...that Frank Lloyd Wright's design for the Francis J. Woolley House (pictured) was influenced by his first teacher, Joseph Silsbee, and the Arts and Crafts movement?
 * ...that although the first meeting of the Indian Independence League took place in Tokyo in March 1942, it was not formally proclaimed until June of that year in Bangkok?
 * ...that the professional wrestling promotion International Championship Wrestling was owned and operated by Angelo Poffo, father of wrestling legend Randy Savage, and starred Randy Savage and his brother Lanny Poffo?
 * ...that abbot Gerald of Sauve-Majeure began the practice of celebrating mass and the Office of the Dead for 30 days for the recently deceased?
 * ...that opinion polls in Armenia suggest that 64% of its population favors eventual Armenian membership in the European Union?
 * ...that sexual relations between a man and his daughter-in-law were fairly common in pre-revolutionary rural Russia?
 * ...that The Lady with a Fan (pictured) is the only Velázquez portrait in which the sitter has not yet been convincingly identified?
 * ...that the monopoly of The Hostmen of Newcastle-upon-Tyne over coal trade in the Tyneside area raised questions in the House of Commons in the 1620s?
 * ...that the bark of the African tree Bombax buonopozense is burnt in Ghana to drive away evil spirits?
 * ...that because of Salvatore Pincherle, German mathematicians could attend the Third International Congress of Mathematicians after a World War I ban?
 * ...that the Cherokee Nation was induced to cede large portions of land in Tennessee and Georgia to the United States in the Tellico Blockhouse, Monroe County, Tennessee?
 * ...that one of the largest rainwater harvesting projects in the world is being implemented in the rural areas of the state of Karnataka, India?
 * ...that Edward Rosewater (pictured) was the telegraph operator responsible for sending out Abraham Lincoln's "Emancipation Proclamation" in 1863?
 * ...that the Old National Library Building, a much-beloved national icon of Singapore, was demolished despite a rare display of public opposition?
 * ...that in China, access to water supply and sanitation varies greatly between rural areas, where only 67% of the population has access to improved water supply, and cities, where 93% does?
 * ...that Demologos, the first warship powered by a steam engine, saw only one day of active service in the U.S. Navy, carrying President James Monroe around New York Harbor?
 * ...that the Danish firm Marcussen & Søn have built over 1000 organs since their foundation in 1806?
 * ...that "Comme Ci, Comme Ça" was performed in French at the Eurovision Song Contest 2007, despite being the Cypriot entry?
 * ...that the prehistoric mammal Yanoconodon (pictured) was a Eutriconodont, a group of early, ancestral mammals that in some cases, grew so big they were able to eat small dinosaurs?
 * ...that the Burgsvik beds, a geological formation exposed on Gotland, Sweden, contain the only fossil euglenid ever discovered?
 * ...that Paul C. Barth, former mayor of Louisville, Kentucky, committed suicide after being ridiculed for a scandal involving the use of city funds to buy an expensive saddle horse?
 * ...that despite sending 8000 ARVN soldiers from out of district to stuff ballot boxes, South Vietnam's President Ngo Dinh Diem could not prevent his candidate from losing to Phan Quang Dan in a 1959 legislative election by a ratio of 6-1?
 * ...that Akwasi Afrifa became Lt. General and head of state of Ghana after a coup d'état, was detained after a second coup, won parliamentary elections after a third and was executed after a fourth coup?
 * ...that Patchin Place (pictured), a cul-de-sac in Greenwich Village known for literary residents such as Theodore Dreiser and E. E. Cummings, is now a popular location for psychotherapists' offices?
 * ...that former University of Kentucky basketball star Dirk Minniefield smoked marijuana the night before Kentucky's loss in the 1983 NCAA Tournament to the University of Louisville?
 * ...that the Rupert Downes Memorial Lecture commemorates a Australian Army general, physician and historian who was killed in a plane crash during World War II?
 * ...that Tung Hua Lin led a team that designed and built China's first twin-engine aircraft in a cave to avoid detection by the Japanese during World War II?
 * ...that American sculptor Lynda Benglis sought to confront the male ethos in the arts community with an advertisement in which she only wore a pair of sunglasses?
 * ...that the recently beatified Paul Joseph Nardini died of pulmonary typhus he contracted when giving the last rites to a member of his parish?
 * ...that the song "Push The Button" was believed by some to relate to Iran's attempt to build nuclear weapons?
 * ...that King George III was overjoyed at the destruction caused to the home of Joseph Priestley during the Birmingham Riots (pictured) in 1791?
 * ...that Louise Pitre, a Tony Award-nominated musical theatre actress, was turned down after auditioning for the role of Josephine in the London musical Napoleon?
 * ...that three years after tying for its final Kentucky State Football championship, Flaget High School closed due to falling enrollment?
 * ...that the final episode of the 1986 television series Outlaws recycled footage from The Oregon Trail, because actors Rod Taylor and Charles Napier appeared in both programs?
 * ...that income inequality increased in the United States in 2005 with the top 1% of earners having roughly the same share of income as in 1928?
 * ...that Lt. Gen. Terry Gabreski is the first female to hold the rank of Lieutenant General in the US Air Force?
 * ...that catfish species of the genus Hypophthalmus are unusual among neotropical fishes because they feed on plankton by straining water over a fine sieve created by numerous long, thin gill rakers
 * ...the Carney Hospital (pictured) in Dorchester, Massachusetts has the record of carrying out the first abdominal surgery in the United States?
 * ...that Gabriele Kohlisch is one of only two people to ever win World Championship gold medals in bobsledding and luge?
 * ...that the Mitcham and Morden by-election in 1982 remains the last to see a gain by the British Conservative Party?
 * ...that the Union Stockyards of Omaha, Nebraska was the largest livestock market and meatpacking center in the United States from 1955 until 1973?
 * ...that Carlos Morales Troncoso, the foreign minister of the Dominican Republic, has degrees in both chemical engineering and sugar engineering?
 * ...that the Poltava Bandurist Capella, directed by Hnat Khotkevych, was the first Soviet ensemble to be invited to tour North America?
 * ...that the football song Hampden in the sun celebrates the record scoreline of the 1957 Scottish League Cup final?
 * ...that the Lajkonik is an unofficial symbol of the city of Krakow as well as an annual festival celebrated for over 700 years commemorating victory over the Tatar invasion?
 * ...that Enguerrand Quarton's Coronation of the Virgin (pictured) appears to be unique in 15th century art in depicting Christ and God the Father as identical figures?
 * ...that American Revolutionary War officer William Stacy narrowly escaped death by burning at the stake and was given a gold snuff box by George Washington?
 * ...that the Frosty Leo Nebula was so named because it is the only known protoplanetary nebula whose circumstellar outflow is dominated by crystalline ice in the long-wavelength emission spectrum?
 * ...that the Australian town of Bundarra, New South Wales is home to a breeding colony of endangered Regent Honeyeaters, containing around thirty of the less than 1,500 birds remaining in existence?
 * ...that William Cooley was a salvager and pioneer whose family's 1836 murder during the Second Seminole War led to the abandonment of the New River Settlement near Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States?
 * ...that among the toughest fighters of the Dahomey War were the corps of female warriors armed with rifles and double-edged machetes?
 * ...that the color signals of Israel Broadcasting Authority television transmissions were erased until 1981, to insure equality for families who couldn't affored color-tv?
 * ...that despite being a key building of middle byzantine Architecture, the mosque of Eski Imaret (pictured) is still one among the least studied monuments of Istanbul?
 * ...that La Martiniere Boys' College in Lucknow, India is the only school in the world to be awarded a battle honour?
 * ...that brownouts have claimed more helicopters in recent military operations than all other threats combined?
 * ...that Kannada is the only language in which a Jain version of the epics Ramayana and Mahabharata exists?
 * ...that Julius Reubke composed his Sonata on the 94th Psalm for organ a year before dying aged 24?
 * ...that Scottish footballer Billy McPhail launched a legal case claiming that heading heavy leather footballs contributed to him developing Alzheimer's disease?
 * ...that Vancouver police Chief Jamie Graham apologized for leaving a paper target riddled with bullet holes on the desk of the city manager, his boss, as a joke?
 * ...that the New Zealand Railways Department dumped tank locomotives of the WB class in the Mokihinui River to protect against erosion beside the route of the Seddonville Branch line?
 * ...that the Greek Phlyax plays of South Italy might have been an influence on Roman comedies of Plautus?
 * ...that the City and Town Hall (pictured) in Rochelle, Illinois was constructed in 1884 following an 18-year disagreement over cost between the city and Flagg Township?
 * ...that Introitus et Exitus, a financial record of the Apostolic Camera from 1279 to 1524, has been used to authenticate the provenance of artworks and study past European exchange and interest rates?
 * ...that the Salerno Mutiny of 1943 saw the largest number of men charged with mutiny at any one time in all of British military history?
 * ...that the third of four expeditions sent in the late 19th century by French nobleman Marquis de Rays to an imaginary majestic colony called New France in present day Papua New Guinea, saw 123 Italian settlers perish of disease and famine?
 * ...that the Bangalore based SELCO company, which promotes solar power in rural India, has twice won an Ashden Award?
 * ...that Ben Abell provided the St. Louis area with more than 120,000 weather forecasts?
 * ...that The Secret Battle (1919) was the first novel by A. P. Herbert, and the first war novel to deal with the soldiers "shot at dawn" during World War I?
 * ...that the Shtyki Memorial (pictured), which honors the defenders of Russia in the Battle of Moscow, is depicted on the flag and coat of arms of Zelenograd?
 * ...that Dutch publisher Emanuel Querido published 110 works between 1933 and 1940 by German writers in exile?
 * ...that the rock band The Sidewinders changed their name to the Sand Rubies after being sued by a cover band over the use of their name?
 * ...that Lough Hyne is a marine lake that was probably freshwater until rising ocean levels flooded it about 4000 years ago?
 * ...that Omaha chief Logan Fontenelle sold the Omaha land to the U.S. government and was subseuqently killed by Brulé and Arapaho?
 * ...that in the 18th century the owners of Tom King's Coffee House developed their own argot, Talking Flash, to prevent informers learning of their misdeeds?